Harbinger of Happiness
by The Light's Refrain
Summary: DRABBLE A Crobat returns to their home cave with their Trainer, and is sorely reminded of why this will never be their home again. Though maybe it doesn't matter anyway. Not now.


_Hey there! This has been an idea that has lingered in my head for quite a while, and I finally got around to writing it! This is also for the General Prompt Challenge on the ffnet forums, for Not Quite!_

_Not much to say outside of that, actually. Enjoy!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon! Just lots of games and plushies.**

Harbinger of Happiness

"_Scary, isn't it? But what wonderful thing didn't start out as scary?" -Isaac Marion_

As we pass through the cave, my Trainer hears nothing but noise. Wing flaps and high-pitched shrieks mean nothing to him. It's shocking how little humans understand outside of their own kind's speech and body language. To him, it's just a bunch of Zubat and Golbat getting in our way. They come, they attack, we attack back until they flee or fall unconscious. That's how most wilderness is. All that changes is which of my teammates is performing bodyguard duty at the time.

I love to fight, as most Pokemon do, wild or tamed. But I wish that I wasn't the one out fighting today. This was my old home, where my Trainer first caught me as a weak Zubat. I was one of his first catches. He might have me out simply because this used to be my home. He's done that before with some of my other companions, whenever we returned to an old area where they had been caught. He means well. He thinks we miss our old homes.

But this is no longer my home. And the Zubat and Golbat are not mere noise to me. I know every word and inflection.

"_Aaaaaaaah!"_

"What's _that?_ It's so gross-looking!"

"Did that really used to be a Golbat?"

"Oh no, this is one of those _human_ evolutions, isn't it? _This_ is why you never want to be caught, fledglings!"

Yes, I am a Crobat. A form not possible outside of human interaction. If you ever see a wild Crobat, it was once a Trainer's Pokemon. It is not a natural evolution. No evolution that requires a human is.

So, to them, I am a monster. Something incomprehensible, terrifying, proof that nothing good comes from being with a human. What good is power if it changes you to an unnatural form, and makes you lose yourself?

And I want to explain to them that they're wrong. That I am still myself, only stronger, just like any other evolution. That most humans are decent creatures, and some, like my human, are _wonderful_ creatures. That, if they were willing to take the chance, they too could become a new kind of strong, that there is good reason so many Pokemon choose to serve humanity.

I still recognize my brood, my elders. I can even tell which fledgings belong to what parents. See, I'm still me! Don't you recognize me? I'm still...

But no one listens, much less recognizes me. No one seems to even consider that I once lived here too. I'm too different. They keep saying I am a liar.

And maybe they're right.

I _am_ too different. Almost, but not quite, like them. And I will never be quite like them again. Even if I was released into the wild tomorrow, with no more human interaction for the rest of my life, I will never be wild. I am too...human? Such a strange way of putting it, but...

Not quite human, yet no quite Pokemon. I wonder if all Pokemon that evolve through human bonds feel that way. I should ask, next time I come across one, even if we have to do it while battling. Though by then, I may be too absorbed in fighting for my human to care.

For my human. _My_ human. Everything is for my human. And I am happy. It saddens me that so many of the wild ones will never know that happiness, that fulfillment, that comfort. How did I stand being such an empty being before, when I was wild?

So I keep fighting, as we pass through the cave. It is not my home. All I hear from the Zubat and Golbat is meaningless noise.

_IIIIII_

_If you think about it, happiness/tameness evolutions are some of the strangest evolutions out there. You don't encounter them in the wild, so it's something that must require humans, right? But because it requires humans, they would be shunned or seen as unnatural by wild Pokemon. I thought it would be interesting to write a little story about that. _

_What do you guys think? Do you think the Crobat is happier in its new form, or sadder because it can't connect well with its lower forms?_

_Also, this story is the 99th story I've put on here! And I've got something big and well overdue planned for slot 100!_


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